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DISCOURSE 



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NATIONAL FAST MY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1861, 



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NEW YORK, 
,^ BY REV. ROBERT DAVIDSON, D. D., 

PASTOR. 



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NEW YORK : 
W. S. DOER. BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, 101 NASSAU STREET. 

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DISCOUKSE 



DELIVERED ON THE 



NATIONAL FAST DAY, SEPTEMBER M, 1861, 



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NEW Y E K , 



BY REV. ROBERT DAVIDSON, D. D., 

II 

PASTOR. 



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NEW YORK: 

W. S. DORR, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, 101 NASSAU STREET. 

18 6 1. 



DISCOURSE. 



SHOW MY PEOPLE THEIR transghession." — Isnidh IvUi. 1. 



In accordance with the proclamation of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, first recommended by both 
Houses of Congress, and since concurred in by the 
Governor of the State, and the Mayor of the City, we 
have met to oljserve this day as a day of fasting, hu- 
miliation and prayer. We are to observe the day with 
religious solemnity, sorrowful remembrance of our 
faults as a nation and as individuals, and the offering 
of fervent supplications to Almighty God for the safety 
and welfire of these States, for His blessing on our 
arms, and for the re-establishment of law, order and 
peace. 

Fasting is a natural concomitant and expression of 
mourning. The heart heavy with grief " forgets to 
take bread." Hence fasting is always conjoined in 
Scripture with penitential sorrow, whether that sor- 
row be spontaneous or divinely commanded. The 
outward signs are of value only as the exponent or 
heightener of the discomfort within. " By the sad- 
ness of the countenance the heart is made better ;" 
hence the prophet calls such a day " a day for a 
man to afflict his soul." By a law of our nature, 



to put on the weeds of mourning and to enter the som- 
bre apartments of grief predisposes us to sadness ; as 
on the contrary, to assume a gay attire and frequent 
the companj' of the cheerful tends to enliven our 
spirits. But there should be, along with the decorous 
assumption of the external signs of sorrow, a sincere 
spirit of penitence and amendment, reformation and 
charity. " Is not this the fast that I have chosen 7" 
continues the prophet, " to loose the bands of wicked- 
ness, to undo the heavy burdens ?" Not that God 
disowns the act of fasting. He only expresses His 
preference. It is to be interpreted like that passage, " I 
will have mercy, and not sacrifice," meaning, " rather 
than sacrifice ;" or that other verse, '• Thou desirest not 
sacrifice, else would I give it." God desires not the 
symbol without the soul ; He wishes not the fasting 
without the repentance and reform. Sacrifices were a 
divine ordinance, and doubtless David conscientiousl}^ 
offered them. 

In the chapter just quoted from Isaiah, the 58th, the 
prophet rebuked further, the disposition to " fast for 
strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wicked- 
ness." It is a perversion of the objects of such a day 
to preach political sermons, to heap reproach on ad- 
versaries, and to direct acrimonious invective against 
political parties whose views do not agree with 
our own. Such a disputatious temper is not in har- 
mony with the humble and subdued feelings which we 
should cherish at such a season. 

But while such perversions are to be discounten- 
anced, it is a time for speaking the truth. And if 
political subjects are necessarily brought under review 



or adverted to in connection with the day, such intro- 
duction is not to be confounded with political sermons. 
A discourse in favor of loyalty, or in reproof of national 
errors, even though it should involve a glimpse at po- 
litical questions, can hardly be called political preach- 
ing. On the present occasion it is difficult to draw the 
line between politics and morals. A clergyman is not 
to abstain from proclaiming that '■ rebellion is as the 
sin of witchcraft," because some of his hearers, with 
secession proclivities, might object to it as political 
preaching. 

The President, the Governor, and the Mayor, have 
all united in exhorting us to confess and deplore our 
national sins and transgressions, our faults and crimes, 
both as a nation and as individuals. Now if we are to 
humble ourselves and confess our sins, we must know 
what they are, and distinctly specify them. " Show 
my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob 
their sins." We are not to do this in a vague and 
general and superficial way, but with clearness and 



minuteness 



W/iaf^ then, are onr National Sins ? Some point out 
Sabbath-breaking, or profanity, or licentiousness, or 
intemperance, or c-ovetousness, or venality, or sla- 
very. Some omit the latter from their catalogue alto- 
gether, or speak of it under their breath, and add 
cautiously that little should be said about it. I infer 
this from the published notices of a variety of dis- 
courses, (in themselves excellent.) delivered on the 
last National Fast Day. Some orators enumerated 
everything that could be with propriety' brought in, 
except only the very point which, in my estimation, 



6 

was the pith and marrow, the real gravamen^ of the 
whole matter. I do not deny that the first mentioned 
sins have been and are too prevalent. But I do not know 
that they are more so than formerly ; perhaps they 
are less. At the close of the Revolutionary War, infi- 
del principles, brought over by the French officers, had 
leavened the people extensively. Paine was not afraid 
to publish his Age of Reason, and Infidelity, in the 
person of Thomas Jefferson, was elevated to the seat 
of the Chief Magistrate. The defeated candidate, 
Aaron Burr, was equally an unbeliever, and notoriously 
one of the most immoral of men. Yet for half a cen- 
tury we have gone on prosperously as a nation, and 
flattering ourselves that we have basked under the 
peculiar smile of Heaven. Our national anniversaries 
have rung with self-gratulations and thrasonical 
vaunts. We have thought our country the envy and 
admiration of the world, the asylum for the down- 
trodden and oppressed of every clime. And it must 
be confessed that there was some shadow of reason for 
it, when we beheld immigrants from foreign parts 
flocking to our shores annually by hundreds of 
thousands, hoping to find in this land of promise a 
refuge everywhere else refused them. These things 
are undeniable. 

Are we worse now 1 are we worse than other na- 
tions that have no civil or foreign wars 1 Are we less 
pious or moral, than the average of other lands 7 Our 
Presidents, for a series of years back, have been pat- 
terns of morality. Some have been pious men. Some 
have declined receiving visits on the Lord's day. All 
have been exemplary in attendance upon divine wor- 



ship on the Sabbath. As a church-going community, 
the American people compare favorably with any 
other, though we rely only on the voluntary principle. 
Within the last lour years there has been an unusual 
degree of prayer in all parts of the land. Daily prayer 
meetings were started in countless places ; and it was 
said, perhaps not altogether hyperbolically, that a 
traveller might go over the length and breadth of the 
land, and in every place where he would stop he might 
find a prayer meeting to attend. The Fulton Street 
prayer meeting, which has attained a world-wide ce- 
lebrity, has just celebrated (Monday, September 23d,) 
its fourth anniversary, and there was as crowded 
an audience as ever, and unflagging interest. Within 
the interval alluded to, revivals of religion have abound- 
ed, and numbers have been brought into the churches, 
approaching, it is thought, two hundred thousand. 
The Sabbath Committee has labored indefatigably and 
successfully to restore the Sabbath to its pristine hon- 
ors, and grog-shops, and theatres, and music halls, have 
been compelled to close their doors on that day. (And 
here it may be remarked in passing, that violations of 
the Sabbath in the army since the war began cannot 
be adduced fairly as a cause of the war before it began.) 
Some Sunday papers have been of late discontinued, 
and some Sunday trains have ceased to run. Chaplains 
accompany our regiments, and prayer meetings are 
held in the camps. Our soldiers have written home, 
not for provisions, not for tea and coffee, not for rifles 
and havelocks, but for hymn books. The daily press 
has for a considerable time devoted a portion of its 
columns to religious intelligence and ecclesiastical re- 



cords, which it would not do without readers. For the 
second time a National Fast Day is observed ; and this 
time the President has been requested to proclaim it 
by a Committee of both Houses of Congress. 

If all this be true, and he must be hardy who will 
venture to deny it, then I must own myself at a loss to 
discover any special provocations of Sabbath breaking, 
profanity, or other wickedness to draw down unwonted 
judgments at this particular time. One is tempted to 
think that there has been of late years an increase of 
piety, devotion, Sabbath observance, and the like, and 
that we might rather have looked for those blessings 
which are promised in the Scriptures, that we should 
'' ride on the high places of the earth," and " be like a 
watered garden." (^Isaiah Iviii. 14.) I cannot bring 
myself to believe that the present war is a divine 
judgment inflicted on us for pre-eminence in Sab- 
bath breaking, profanity, incontinence, cupidity, or 
luxury. Will any one say that our peculiar national 
distinction is any one or all of these vices ? Even the 
love of money is no more peculiar to us than to the 
English, the Scotch, or the Germans. 

The real and onh/ cause of the present troubles is Slavery^ 
nothing else. Had there been no slavery, there would 
have been no war. This is the truth. It cannot be 
disguised. There is nothing gained by trying to ignore 
it. There is no use in handling it delicately, and 
speaking of it sotto voce. The time for being mealy- 
mouthed, if it ever was, is over. The stern arbitra- 
ment of war has been resorted to, and we may as well 
know distinctly what it is we are spending so much 
blood and treasure for. 



9 

The South does not hesitate to say openly and une- 
quivocally that she is fighting for the perpetuation and 
extension of slavery. The Confederacy, says Vice- 
President Stephens, " is founded on the idea, its cor- 
ner-stone rests upon it." General Polk, the modern 
Leonidas who has devoted himself with Spartan self- 
abnegation to the cause, and who, being a Right 
Reverend as well as a Brigadier-General, may be re- 
garded both as a soldier and a saint, affirms that he is 
contending '' for principles which lie at the foundation 
of their social, political and religious polity, and that 
they are the best bulwark of civilization." Dr. Palmer 
of New Orleans, chimes in with these views, declaring 
it to be the " mission of the South to conserve and 
perpetuate" to future generations, the peculiar institu- 
tion. Why, then, should any one in these high lati- 
tudes, be sensitive about alludiug to this subject. Why 
not come right out, like John Knox, and call a fig, a 
fig, a spade, a spade. 

Nor is anything more susceptible of proof than that 
the North did not begin this war. So far from it, the 
North seemed to be stupefied and paralyzed, and 
unwilling to credit the ruin that was spreading un- 
der its eyes. It looked on with astounding apathy, 
and saw fort after fort, arsenal after arsenal, custom- 
house after custom-house, navy-yard after navy-yard, 
ship after ship, stolen more or less openly, battery after 
battery erected. State after State seceded, till it be- 
came a butt for ridicide on account of its forbearance 
and pusillanimity. Plainly the curse denounced on 
those blood-thirsty wretches who are the first to take 
the sword, and who shall therefore fall by the sword, 
2 



10 

cannot be, with any appearance of likelihood, impend- 
ing over the North. 

It is charged that a deep-laid scheme was laid years 
ago, some say as long ago as thirty years, and that 
the plot has been systematically and persistently kept 
up, to prepare the heart of the Southern people for this 
issue ; while Southern men, high in office, were clan- 
destinely transferring munitions of war, scattering the 
navy, and crippling the Treasury, for the benefit of 
the South and the weakening of the North. The his- 
tory of the Republic confirms the statement ; and it is 
only necessary, in order to trace the plan in its cun- 
ning and wide-spread ramifications, to advert to Cuba, 
Texas, the Mexican war, the repeal of the Missouri 
compromise, Kansas and Lecompton ; or to refer to 
McDuffie's s]3eeches, Calhoun's writings, and the Par- 
tisan Leader. 

Any one that was on the stage of active life thirty 
years ago, knows that there was then a tolerable de- 
gree of unanimity on the slavery question. Slavery 
was acknowledged to be an evil, and was excused and 
apologized for. Abolitionism had not yet shown its 
teeth. Garrison was yet below the horizon. The 
Colonization Society was regarded as the great safety- 
valve, under the blessing of Providence. One of the 
largest colonization meetings ever held, was held about 
that date, in the cit}^ of Lexington, Kentucky, in the 
capacious Methodist Church, at which Mr. Clay and 
Robert Wickliffe, Senior, the two great men of the 
vicinity, made speeches. In Mr. Clay's speech occur- 
red the following memorable sentiment, which I give 
in his very words, uttered, and uttered without rebuke, 



11 

in the ears of all Lexington. " Slavery is a curse to 
THE Master, and a wrong, a grievous wrong, to the 
Slave." In those days such men as Judge Green, 
Judge Underwood, Rev. Robert J. Breckenridge, 
President Young, and others of the wise and good of 
Kentucky, stood and labored in the same cause, 
shoulder to shoulder. 

The South has shifted its ground since that time. 
Mr. Stephens, to whose words the office of Vice-Presi- 
dent may lend greater weight, expressly declares 
there has been a change, and takes credit for having 
left the old fogy notions of our Revolutionary sires, 
and for having laid an entirely novel and before un- 
thought of basis for the truest civilization. He tells 
us, that '' the general opinion of the men of that day 
was, that somehow or other, in the order of Providence, 
the institution would l)e evanescent and pass awa}^ 
This idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution, 
was the prevailing idea at that time. * * * * 
These ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. 
They rested upon the assumption of an equality of 
races. This was an error. Our new government is 
founded upon entirely the contrary idea. * * * * 
Its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the 
great truth that the negro is not equal to the white 
man, that slavery, subordination to the superior race, 
is his natural and normal condition. This truth has 
been slow in the process of its development, like all 
other truths in the various departments of science. It 
has been so among us. Many who hear me, perhaps, 
can recollect well that this truth was not generally 
admitted, even within their da}*. The errors of the 



12 

past generation .still cliinij; to many as late as twenty 
years ago." 

It is not necessary to cite other testimony after so 
bold and unequivocal a statement as this. If further 
evidence is demanded, we may refer to Mr. Everett's 
Fourth of Jul}^ speech, which eirectually disposes of 
other issues as trivial. It must l)e admitted that while 
the North has not changed, while the Constitution re- 
mains unaltered, while the Government has bent all 
its efforts to keep the Constitution inviolate, while the 
new President in advance pledged his determination 
to trespass on no vested rights, and while Congress, 
with unparalleled unanimity, has recently disavowed 
any pi'oject of conquest or subjugation, or any other 
purpose than simply to maintain the supremacy of the 
laws and the integi'ity of the Union, the South has 
drilteJ from its old moorings, and is at sea under a 
press of canvass destined for an entirely different har- 
l)()r. Indeed the Soutli did not wait for any actual 
inroad, Init with indecent haste proclaimed secession 
before the new Pi'esident was inaugurated, and having 
but its feai'S and anticipations to Justify the ('ourse. 
So long as it coidd have its own way, and dominate 
over a, subsei'vient Noi'th, and dictate the laws, and 
occupy the territories, and direct all measures for the 
strengthenjug of its own peculiar interests, the South 
had no objection to stay in the Union ; but the mo- 
ment a. President came into oilice, no nuitter how law- 
fully, whose o})inions and administration were looked 
on with suspicion, every tie must be severed, and the 
Union, like the old Confederation which it superseded, 
pioclaimcd uo b(>tter than a I'ope of sand. 



13 

Since then, all other issues are irrelevant, and slav- 
ery is, and by the South is openly avowed to be, the 
sole occasion of the present agitations, we may ap- 
proach the consideration of anotliei- point, viz. : How 
far is the North cul[)a1)le, and is the present war to be 
viewed in the light of a special judgment upon the 
North? 

If the North has not changed its ground, and if it 
has not been growing morally worse of late years, then 
it is difficult to see how the North has made itself 
obnoxious to any special judgment of this nature. On 
the contrary, the North appears to have waked up at 
last to take a step in the right direction. Finding 
that yielding had gone as far as it could without sacri- 
ficing every vestige of manly inde])endence, the North 
has determined to make no further concessions, and to 
shake off all resiDonsibility lor extending or perpetua- 
ting the area of slavery. As a local institution, slavery 
can have no vitality nor rights outside of the locality 
in which it obtains. Slavery, says the South, is na- 
tional. Freedom is sectional. No ! cries the North, in 
a voice of ihinidcn-. Slavery is sectional, Freedom is na- 
tional ! 

Now 1 beg leave to ask, when the North is taking a 
stand for the Constitution, for the traditions of the 
Fathers, for the dictates of Natural Law, and for the 
cause of Humjinity, are we to be told, this is the mo- 
ment which Divine Providence has selected of all 
others, to array its vengeance against us, and hurl its 
judgments on our heads ! Why, if there be a guilty 
party, against whom those judgments would seem 
more worthily due, should it not rathei- be the South, 



14 

which has removed the ancient landmarks, proclaimed 
war for the maintenance and extension of slavery, and 
struck the first blow in an unnatural, horrid and fra- 
tricidal contest 1 To the South war may be, and 
doubtless will prove, a severe and tremendous judg- 
ment. To the North it may wear another aspect. 

The dealings of Providence, even the troubles and 
afflictions which He permits to befal us, are not al- 
ways punitive. They are sometimes only disciplinary. 
They are not judgments, but trials. They are intended 
to separate the gold from the dross, the wheat from the 
chaff, and to develope something refined and valuable. 
No one is entitled, therefore, from the mere existence 
of agitation or trouble, to infer some great preceding 
crime as the cause. This was the mistake Job's well- 
meaning but narrow-minded friends fell into. It was 
the error of those who thought the Galileans who were 
crushed beneath the tower of Siloam must be sinners 
above all the Galileans. It was the prejudice which 
the disciples i'ostered, when they asked concerning the 
blind man, which had sinned, he or his parents, that 
he had been born blind 1 Every affliction is not ne- 
cessarily a judgment ; it may be sent as a great means 
of moral discipline. 

But still further, we do not see the evidences that 
this war is a judgment. It is readily conceded that 
War, Pestilence and Famine, are severe evils, and to 
be deprecated. Of these, it is also admitted, that 
David chose pestilence rather than war ; but it was 
war in the form of defeat, fleeing three months before 
pursuing and relentless enemies, not war in its victo- 
rious phase. There has been great interruption of 



15 

commerce, a .stagnation of" business, an extensive bank- 
ruptcy, and much .snffering. But much of this distress 
may be directly traced to the non-payment of the 
enormous debts due from the South, which the South 
declines paying in the present position of affairs. 
The commercial prostration is believed to be tempo- 
rary. Business is reviving, and recovering on a more 
solid basis of cash rather than credit. Western har- 
vests are prolific. Our exports exceed our imports. 
We are contracting no outstanding foreign debt. Spe- 
cie is flowing in upon us, instead of being drained out. 
Factories are re-opened. The Government has had 
no difficulty in raising the vast sum of $500,000,000. 
This amount, in addition to $200,000,000, already dis- 
bursed, has been, or will be obtained within our own 
borders. We have not had to go out of the country to 
borrow a dollar. The Rothschilds may keep kings, 
kaisers and popes in leading strings, and under obli- 
gations to them, but they have no hold on the United 
States. The people, with a generous confidence in the 
stability and resources of the Republic, press forward 
with their off'erings to lend to the Government. All 
this vast amount of monej", as it is raised, is to 
be expended amongst ourselves. Somebody gets it. 
It is not lost. It is not thrown into the sea. It is 
not sent away. It circulates among the community. 
Trade, for a moment impeded, follows the laws of trade, 
and seeks out new channels. Capital will once more 
be active. The laboring classes will again find em- 
ployment. Prosperity will revisit the land. The peo- 
ple will be no worse off" for curtailing some of their 
-fe«ei»e8S, and practicing that rare virtue, economy. 



16 

Meantime, we have found out, and the world has 
found out, that we have a Government. At one time, that 
point seemed problematical. It is now satisfactorily 
settled. We have a government. Add to this, that a 
check has been put to growing political and civic cor- 
ruption, which was fast bringing popular institutions 
into disrejDute. The uprising of a great people at the 
sound of the first gun against Fort Sumter, has at- 
tracted the admiration of mankind, and is one of those 
instances of the morally sublime, which will shine with 
peculiar lustre on the pages of future history. It has 
redeemed this generation from the charge of indiffer- 
ence to everything but money-making. Party lines 
have been obliterated, and men of all shades of opinion 
unite for their country. Our young men lately in 
danger of being spoiled and enervated by prosperity, 
now see a noble and animating career opening before 
them. Sublime sentiments fire their hearts. They 
spring to arms. They submit to self-denial. They 
inure themselves to hardships. They bare their bo- 
soms to peril. They devote their lives, with prodigal 
unselfishness, to the service of their country. They 
are saved from luxury, idleness, and an aimless life. 
They are developing themselves into heroes. Their 
families and their country are proud of them. 

Thus then, war. with all its concomitant annoyances, 
is not the worst of evils. It is not an unmitigated evil. 
It has its palliations. It has its dark side, but it also 
has its columnar glorj. The Ti'ibes on their way out 
of the wilderness into the Promised Land, were under 
the necessity of fighting with nation after nation, and 
king after king, that rose up to dispute their progress. 



17 

But I have never heard that military nece.ssity repre- 
sented as a judgment upon those heaven-directed tribes. 
It was a judgment on the crushed and defeated Canaan- 
ites, but it served to give energy, confidence, and cha- 
racter to the Hebrews, and that whole generation who 
were contemporary with Joshua remained steadfast to 
the principles of religion and truth. 

" Knowledge, by sutfcring eiitei-eth, 
And Life is perfected by Death." 

The historian Alison has some sentiments striking- 
ly coincident with the opinions just expressed, which 
are worth quoting. 

" It is in periods of apparent disaster, during the suffering of 
whole generations, that the greatest improvements on human cha- 
racter have been effected, and a foundation laid for those changes 
which ultimately prove most beneficial to the species. The wars 
of the Heptarchy, the Norman Conquest, the Contest of the Eoses, 
the Great Rebellion, are apparently the most disastrotis periods of 
our. annals ; those in which civil discord was most furious, and the 
public suffering most universal. Yet these are precisely the pe- 
riods in which its peculiar temper was given to the English charac- 
ter, and the greatest addition made to the causes of English pros- 
perity ; in which courage arose out of the extremity of misfortune* 
national union out of oppression, public emancipation out of aris- 
tocratic dissension, general freedom out of regal ambition. The 
national character which we now possess, the public 'benefits we 
now enjoy, the freedom by which we have been distinguished, the 
energy by which we arc sustained, are in a great measure owing 
to thq renovating storms, which have, in former ages, passed over 
our country." — Hist. Eur. Vol. /., c. 1. 

It was by hardihood and patience the Dutch Kepub- 

lic gained the recognition of its rights. It was by a 

succession of wars, sometimes foreign, sometimes civil, 

that England secured her constitutional liberties. It 

3 



18 

was not till after an arduous struggle of eight years 
that the United States achieved their independence, 
and entered upon their career of greatness as a power 
on the earth. This war, then, may be regarded not as 
a judgment, indicative of the divine displeasure, but as 
a season of trial and discipline, out of which the total 
nationality shall emerge ere long, and rise to a loftier 
plane than it has yet reached. We have passed suc- 
cessfully through several wars, each of which has left 
us gainers. The first gave us independence. The 
second secured us the command of the sea, and the re- 
spect of the world. The third put in our hands the 
entire continent stretching to the Pacific. We are now 
to show whether we can stand the test of Civil War, 
and vindicate the National Hnity, and the supremacy 
of the Constitution. If we come triumphantly out of 
this test, the Republic may be considered as having a 
brighter future before her than ever. 

Thus far my task has been one of discrimination. 
As a public teacher of morals, I am as much bound by 
conscience as any one else, to tell what I believe to be 
the truth, not what other persons believe to be the 
truth ; to distinguish carefully- the truth from error, and 
to separate the wheat from the chaff I must "deliver 
my soul." I have endeavored to set aside all errone- 
ous issues and put the subject in a full and clear light. 
We often approximate to the truth by first eliminating 
every element of error. 

I will now proceed to show some of the true grounds 
we have for humiliation, and to point out the national 
sins of which we should repent. Wo have as a people, 
as a nation, as a Church, as individuals, reason enough 



19 

to bow low before the Searcher of hearts, and implore 
forgivenc3ss. 

We should feel humbled to think of the occasion of this 
war, w^e who have been proud of our high civilization, 

" W'e, the lieirs of all \hv a^TS, foremost in the files of time." 

Slavery has been long felt and lamented as the one 
plague-spot of the Republic, the great blot on our es- 
cutcheon. It is this that has exposed as to the taunts 
of Europe, and cut ofi" our churches from ecclesiastical 
fellowship with the great historical churches of the 
Old World. It is in vain for the North to repudiate 
all complicity. The national solidarity exposes all 
parts to reproach for the faults of any single one. 
When a calamity befals a particular denomination of 
Christians, the others have no right to exult, for the 
world confounds all together, and points at all alike, as 
joint professors of the same religion ; just so, w^e must 
accept the inconveniences of that national unity to 
maintain which in its integrity we are now in arms. 
With it we must consent to share the perils or the re- 
proaches of each particular section. It is a scandal 
that may make us all blush, that it was in the bosom 
of the United States were reared so many traitors, per- 
jurers, and robbers. The whole Republic stands disgra- 
ced because such men as Cobb, and Floyd, and Twiggs; 
were her children. They, like ourselves, are Americans. 
As Americans, as citizens of the United States, we 
have cause to hang our heads, to think that Benedict 
Arnold was not the last of his race. 

If we honestly think Slavery to be at the bottom of 
all this trouble, and accountable for the war and all its 
horrors, and if this consideration makes us less in love 



20 

with the system than ever, we do right in humbly but 
earnestly^ praying that the nuisance may be abated, 
and the impediment to national unity and prosperity 
be removed. While our hands are tied by constitution- 
al compacts, so that we have no right to interfere with 
the local institutions of the South, we can, at least, 
pray that Divine Providence in its wisdom, may over- 
rule the present agitation in some way, that human 
wisdom does not clearly see, to brhig about some mod- 
ification or amelioration of the system, leading to its 
ultimate, but safe, gradual, and peaceful, extinction. 

Providence appears to be acting on a uniform plan 
all over the rest of the world, " to break every yoke 
and let the oppressed go free," why should we suppose 
America the sole exception, the sole lazar-house, left 
in the civilized world, where the fetter is to be more 
strongly riveted, and emancipation rendered forever 
hopeless. What changes war may > et bring about, 
as it has already brought about some, or to Avhat niea- 
sures urgent military necessities may compel, or what 
new cotton fields may be thrown open to the world, is 
not patent to the eye at present, but we can hardly 
doubt that the future is pregnant with great improve- 
ments and passible benedictions. At all events, we 
can pray. 

I see great cause for humiliation on account of tJte 
check (jivcn lo our aruts. Though the war has been plan- 
ned on a gigantic scale, and though months have passed, 
our armies are still on the defensive. We have sus- 
tained repeated checks and reverses, from the capture of 
Sumpter to the surrender of Lexington. The panic 
at Bull Run was a most humiliating afliiir. And let it 
be remembered that panics are denounced by Jeho- 



21 

vah as one of his instruments of displeasure. If a peo- 
ple provoke Him " they shall flee seven ways before 
their enemies. How should one chase a thousand, and 
tw^o put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had 
sold them, and the Lord had shut them up '?" " And 
what do we see now ? Missouri overrun, Kentucky in- 
vaded, privateers active, the national capital beleaguer- 
ed, and the insurgent flag flaunting defiance in sight of 
the Federal city, and there is no Ellsworth to pluck it 
down ! Neither do we know what is to be the result 
of this conflict. Since the numerous reverses and even 
disgraceful retreats that have occurred, we ha^ e no ti- 
tle to expect uninterrupted success. Our ti-oops have 
not shown themselves invincible. Collisions may oc- 
cur with foreign nations. England withholds her sym- 
pathy. We can hardly indeed expect proud aristocra- 
cies and venerable monarchies to evince a cordial love 
for Republican institutions. They scarcely repress 
their exultation. " Alia ! aha !" they say, " so would 
we have it. This is the day that we looked for, we 
have found, we have seen it. We told you so, you dis- 
contented Plebeians. It is as we predicted. The 
model republic is dead. The bubble has burst !" 

It may be further remarked, that if we have one 
national sin that distinguishes us more than another, it 
is the passion of covetoiisness. Our greed has been the 
world's proverb. Not that we are worse than some 
other nations, oi" are miserly, or are given to hoarding, 
or to love money for its own sake. But the rage for 
display, the love of luxury, the outvieing every body 
else, the lust of ostentation, the longing to have where- 
withal to spend, the haste to be rich, these are preva- 
lent motives, and they require fuel to minister to their 



22 

gratification. Slaveliolding in the South, and the fit- 
ting out of scores of slavers in Northern cities, are both 
but exemplications of the same engrossing passion lor 
wealth and greed of gain. For such a propensity we 
may well be ashamed and repent in dust and ashes, as 
a nation and as individuals. This is the parent of all 
the venality and corruption, of the repeated embezzle- 
ment and defalcations, of the frauds in army and navy 
contracts, that have stained our annals from one end of 
the country to the other. 

Further, we have been too prone to self-gloi ij.caiicn. We 
are noted lor our national vanity. Eiagging is an in- 
firmity of the entire people. Providence has evident- 
ly designed to curb us, and to abate cur overweening 
self-confidence. God seems to say to us as he did once 
to the Jews, " I will curse your blessings." We have 
made oui- parchment Constitution our idol. Under its 
aegis nothing could harm us. " Come, all ye nations 
ol' the world, imitate our example, and take shelter 
beneath the shadow of our wings !" We have to some 
extent profited by the wholesome rebukes we have 
sustained. The tone of the public press, and the tone 
of our orators, is not so arrogant as it was. We have 
learned that the struggle is to be a desperate one, and 
we must not undervalue our antagonists. We have been 
taught the value of military discipline and respect 
for authority. W^e have found tliat an undisciplined 
mob in uniform is not an army. We have learned that 
military science does not come by nature, nor is ab- 
sorbed through the donning of a pair of epaulets. 
W^e have learned the need of caution, and good gener- 
alship, that the lives of our really brave and noble 
troo23s may not be thrown away for lack of a head to 



23 

direct them. Well will it be foi- us then, if among the 
lessons of the hour we learn humility, as well as hu- 
miliation. 

Much more might be said, but I shall only add, that 
if we would succeed we must repent of our tendency to 
rel}^ on '' the arm of flesh," and irnst in Providence. 
We must reverence God's holy Sabbath, we must re- 
spect the Hol}^ Name, we must banish irregularity and 
vice from the camp, and every where else. Because 
a man is a soldier, it is thought he is dispensed from 
the Moral Law. " There is no Sabbath," w^e are told, 
" in war." And so, movements have been made, regi- 
ments transported, colors given, reviews ordered, bat- 
tles fought, on the Sabbath. The Cliaj)lain of the 
House of Representatives, Mr. Stockton, has stated 
that the battle of Bull Run was arranged on the Sab- 
bath day to suit the convenience of certain Congress- 
men and civilians, who wanted to see it as a gladiato- 
rial combat, (and some of them have seen more than ih^y 
wanted.) Many pious people have believed that God 
permitted a shameful and totally unnecessary panic 
to sully our arms, (up to that point victorious,) in or- 
der to vindicate his holy day, and testify his displeasure 
at its unnecessary violation. They see the attestation 
of this in the disastrous termination of everj' bat- 
tle, without exception, offered on the Sabbath day ; 
Plattsburg, New Orleans, Waterloo, and Bull Run. 
Let us accept it as a token for good that the gallant 
commander on the Potomac has issued a general order 
for the better observance of the Sabbath, and that no 
unnecessary drills, parades, reviews, or engagements are 
to be permitted by him henceforth. 



24 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 

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012 026 257 



We cannot, Oh, ye politicians! we cannot, oh, ye 
worldly-wise Statesmen ! afford to dispense with the 
aid of God. Napoleon I. said, (although some doubt 
whether he said it,) "Providence favors the strong bat- 
talions." In the rout and disappearance of the 
Xerxes-like host which he precipitated upon Russia, the 
impious sneer was disproved. The ultimate success of 
the Prince of Orange against the haughty chivalry of 
vSpain, disproves it. The repulse of the Armada dis- 
proves it. The existence of this republic disproves it. 
The emancipation of Italy disproves it. The retiring 
of the Assyrian king from before the walls of Jerusa- 
lem disproves it. The history of Gideon and the Mid- 
ianites disproves it. 

Let us not " sacrifice to our net, or burn incense to 
our drag;" let us not " take the corn, and wine, and oil, 
the silver and the gold, which Jehovah has given us, and 
prepare it for Baal." Let us honor the Lord that 
made us, that preserves us, and that redeems us. 
Let us faithfully reverence his name and observe his 
institutions. Let us put our trust in God, and con- 
stantly invoke his protection. Let our petition be to 
the throne of grace, " Give us help from trouble ! for 
vain is the help of man." Then " through God we 
shall do valiantly : for he it is that shall tread down 
our enemies." 



